Musculoskeletal Anatomy Elective

[lee9786]

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I've been pondering about the idea of taking a musculoskeletal anatomy class as an elective next semester. It gets into bones, bone landmarks, joints, muscles, origins, insertions, actions, and a little bit of palpation. Now a lot of this I feel pretty comfortable with. All pretty much except all of the insertion and origins. It seems pretty straightforward that this information will be useful. I wonder though if taking this class would necessarily give me an edge in PT school. For anyone that has either gone or is currently going through PT school, do you think taking this class would help give me the upperhand when in PT school? Would it be helpful with passing the licensure exam?

 

[MotionDoc]

you are speaking about the very core of our profession: the human body. If I were to do things all over again, I would jump at every opportunity I had to be exposed to anatomy, especially one with a clinical perspective which, if I am reading it right, this class seems to provide.

With that said, you will have all that plus some by the end of your semester of PT school...

So, will it give you an edge on the boards? Strictly from an anatomy perspective: No...

Will it set you up to spend less time with rote memorization and more time conceptualizing the intricacies of the human body in terms of function and impairment during your first year of PT school? Heck yea...

What I am getting at, is that in 20 years will it have made a difference in how good of a PT you are? probably not, but the road from here to there will sure be easier.

 

[callmecrazy]

For someone that started PT school with a very weak Anantomy background, I would jump on that chance if I could do things over again. Will it help with the licensure exam, no; you will only be scratching the surface with that class. Will it give you an "upper hand" in PT school, no; everyone else will know all that and more by the end of the first semester. But it will probably make studying for anatomy that first semester a little (or lot) easier, and you will be hearing more things for the second time instead of the first.

If the opportunity is there for you I don't see any reason not to take the course;there is clearly more to be gained than lost.

 

[facetguy]

Take the course.

 

[MinnDasota]

Take it.

 

[PTtoBe]

I'm wrapping up my first quarter of anatomy in PT school. There's almost no question you'd spend less time reviewing muscles in PT school as a result of this course if you generally retained origins/insertions/actions of the muscles, so in that regard it may give you the edge you're looking for. As someone else mentioned, keep in mind that by the end of the school year it won't matter in a way...your entire class will know the same body of information as you, and it will be significantly more than what you'll cover in the elective course.

But if it doesn't cost anything too significant and you have the cash and the time, I say go for it!

Also, a lot of PT students seem to struggle more with pathology/diseases than Anatomy from what I've seen, so your time may be well spent memorizing causes and clinical features of diseases.

Just food for thought. Good luck!